Episode 93: Directing the Non-Traditional Play 

High school director Ray Palasz talks about directing Drum Taps, a theatrical adaptation of Walt Whitman’s poetry. Why is struggle an important tool in his directing process?

Show Notes

Shout - An A Cappella Musical Drum Taps

Episode Transcript

Welcome to TFP The Theatrefolk podcast, the place to be for drama teachers, drama students and theatre educators everywhere. I’m Lindsay Price, resident playwright for Theatrefolk.

Hello, I hope you're well. Thanks for listening.

We are now heading into the Christmas season! It’s December, so it’s now officially all right to listen to Christmas carols, hang your lights and put up decorations. What that stuff happens in in November, just weirds me out. Worse - when you go into a store before Halloween and there are Christmas decorations out? Why? Why? But I digress.

Everyone gets a little, or maybe a lot busy this time of year and here at Theatrefolk Global headquarters, we do too. So we’re re-visiting some of our previous podcasts during December.

This is a replay of Episode 93, directing the Non-Traditional Play with teacher Ray Palasz.

You can find it in the show notes for the replay of episode 93at theatrefolk.com/episode93.

What’s so great about this episode is how much the students in Ray’s story were not expected to succeed - and that didn’t stop Ray.  The number one thing I learn from teachers is how students will rise to the occasion. Students are going to perform to whatever expectations you set. And, if you set a low expectation of your students, that’s what they’re going to give to you.

Let’s hear what Ray has to say with his situation and his students and his very high bar of expectation he has for them. Lindsay: All right! Here we are on the Theatrefolk Podcast and I am overjoyed to talk to Ray Palasz today.

Hello, Ray!

Ray: Hi!

Lindsay: How are you?

Ray: Pretty good! How are you doing?

Lindsay: Awesome.

So, let’s start out. If you could tell everybody where you are in the world?

Ray: Okay. I am one of the theatre directors at Lake Central High School which is in Saint John, Indiana. We are in the northwest corner of the state, about 35 minutes from Downtown Chicago. In fact, when I look out my classroom window because of our elevation and I’m on a third floor, on a clear day I can actually see the skyline of Chicago so it’s kind of cool.

Lindsay: How awesome to have that sort of in your backyard!

Ray: Exactly, yeah.

Lindsay: Are you able to access it? Do you see a lot of theatre?

Ray: Yeah, my girlfriend and I, we probably go see about four or five shows a year up there and I have some friends from college that do shows up there and, every once in a while, I try to get up there when I can to see what they’re doing. So, I definitely take advantage of it and I know some of my students do as well so it’s really nice.

Lindsay: Cool. So, how long have you been a teacher?

Ray: This is my tenth year.

Lindsay: And what got you into it?

Ray: You know, I had some really good inspirational directors as a child growing up. When I was in middle school, I had people who really directed me well – a guy by the name of Tom Witting who got me in my first show when I didn’t make the basketball team in sixth grade and then we did a musical together.

And then, the next year, I had another amazing woman, Gloria Kijewski – she got me through seventh and eighth grade. And then, I had a couple of really great directors – Ann Witting and Henry Hertz – in high school.

And I grew up outside of Chicago so this is all in the same area. These are all people that I know and they got me into theatre and developed me even more as an actor and as a director.

Actually, it’s kind of ironic because the woman, Gloria Kijewski, she directed me in seventh and eighth grade, next year, her daughter will be a freshman in our program here at Lake Central High School...